Was J-Lo Imitating the Original Rump Shaker?

For those of you who watched American Idol last night, you were able to experience the presentation by Marc Anthony, Sheila E., and Jennifer Lopez.

This performance and a comment of one of my Facebook friends, Elisamaris, brought me memories of when I was a kid.

An 80's Icon, Iris Chacon

In the 80's almost every household tuned in to see a performer similar to what you saw JLo do last night. Yes, I am talking about what Puerto Rico's ultimate female artist would have done, Iris Chacon.

Iris Chacon Number 1 Fan

I remember my neighbor, who was around the same age as my grandfather at the time, would call me over to view Iris Chacon's show every week. Everyone's excitement intrigued me, and I made sure not to miss out.

What I enjoyed was listening to Spanish music presented to a primarily English speaking audience. Recently Ricky Martin sang in Spanish on Jay Leno as did @calle13oficial on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

American Idol and all these other mainstream shows who bring in performers to sing in another language are brilliant. It allows the right kind of energy to be conveyed about Latino culture.

Puerto Rico's Mainstream Ambassador

Iris Chacon was an Ambassador of our culture who broke barriers and was able to make it to mainstream American television programs way before Jennifer Lopez, and Marc Anthony was known. She appeared on shows like Merv Griffin Show and David Letterman.

For those of You who don't know who Iris Chacon is... I have included a few videos of her performances and you can get the idea where JLo's was inspired to get her rump-shaking moves from.

Imitation as a Form of Flattery

They say an imitation is a form of flattery and you will see why Iris Chacon was the best at this body movement.

To keep up with the traditional introduction of Iris Chacon, I will switch to Spanish.